Gabriel "Sylar" Gray
Sylar is a character on the NBC drama Heroes. He is a serial killer with an unspecified range of superpowers. Character history The name "Sylar" first appeared on a cassette tape in Genesis, the first episode. He is not mentioned verbally until the next episode, "Don't Look Back." Sylar is stated to be a suspected serial killer. His perceived victims are sometimes seen with their heads sliced open horizontally at the center of their skull and lacking their brains. Sylar knew the late Chandra Suresh, before he died. Chandra told his son, Mohinder, that he thought that Sylar was "Patient Zero". In a taped phone call between Chandra and Sylar, the latter alludes that the former "made him this way" (aware of his powers) and refers to a mysterious "uncontrollable hunger" he now has. Chandra wanted nothing to do with Sylar at this point. In the third episode, Mohinder and a friend, Eden, broke into an apartment believed to be Sylar's. Inside, Eden noted that there were no photographs in the apartment, but plenty of books on philosophy and a copy of Chandra Suresh's book. Mohinder took pictures of the apartment, his father's book on a bureau, books on the shelves, and a book in a glass case. He stumbled upon a secret room behind the glass case. Inside was a map similar to one used by the Suresh's, but with many more connections and papers linked to several of them. Eden identified Nathan Petrelli on one of the links. Mohinder found another room in the secret area covered by vinyl tarps. Inside, the walls were covered in scrawls, some seemingly written in blood, including, "FORGIVE ME FATHER FOR I HAVE SINNED." Mohinder fetched police officers to show them the apartment. By the time they returned, the apartment had been cleaned out. In the very next scene, a man in a baseball hat believed to be Sylar went after Molly, the daughter of a couple Sylar is believed to have slaughtered. Matt Parkman and an FBI agent named Audrey stopped him, with Matt protecting Molly and Audrey giving chase. When Audrey pulled her gun, the man somehow forced her backwards against a wall and made her point her own weapon to her head without making physical contact with her. When Matt arrived, he shot at the unknown man. However, when Matt turned to check on Audrey, the man moved back upright, and the bullets which hit him fell to the ground. As Matt and Audrey looked back, the man appeared to disappear upwards out of frame. In "Hiros," a stylized image of the shadowy man in the baseball cap was found on a painting in Isaac's apartment. When Peter finished the painting, the man was standing over the mutilated body of a cheerleader, presumably Claire Bennet. Portrayer *A persistant rumor claims that Sean Bean will be playing Sylar, though this is highly disputed. There is still no official word on who portrayed the shadowy man in a baseball cap. *Eonline has recently been suggested that Zach Quinto is actually Sylar. Birth of a Sylar According to a news clipping on Sylar's wall, a "Paul E. Sylar" was born on June 11, 1962. This would make that man 44 in 2006. Whether or not this Sylar is the same as the above mentioned character has not been verified. Powers His original power was the ability to "see what was broken about something and fix it". He is also able to steal other people's powers, apparently through a process that involves him removing the tops of their heads and extracting their brains. The exact mechanism through which this enables him to absorb their powers has not yet been revealed. So far, Sylar has demonstrated the following (presumably stolen) powers: * Telekinesis (taken from Brian Davis) *The ability to freeze objects (presumably taken from Molly Walker's father in "Don't Look Back") * The ability to liquify solid objects. (taken from Zane Taylor) * Superhuman hearing (taken from Dale Smither) * Precognition (taken from Isaac Mendez) * He is also shown removing the top of Charlene Andrews's head, and presumably takes her power to memorise and recall virtually any information, though this is not demonstrated on screen. In the episode "Five Years Gone", set 5 years in the future, Sylar also demonstrates the following powers: * The ability to phase through solid objects (presumably taken from D.L. Hawkins) * The ability to shapeshift, physically mimicking others (taken from Candace Wilmer) * Flight (taken from Nathan Petrelli) * The power to produce and manipulate radiation (presumably taken from Ted Sprague) * He is also shown removing the top of Claire Bennet's head, and presumably takes her power, though this is not demonstrated on screen.